UW-Whitewater advanced to the final sixteen teams in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III Championship Tournament, losing to Carthage College 8-3 Monday afternoon in a regional final hosted by Augustana College at Swanson/Brunner Field in Moline, Illinois. UW-Whitewater's Tournament Central web site
box score/plays
Redmen shortstop Joe Ferro began the Carthage third with a one out bunt single. The next batter, junior rightfielder Trevor Whately was hit by a pitch and both advanced on a ground out. Both runs came home on a Warhawk error, off the bat of senior first baseman John Lequia to give Carthage a 2-0 lead.
Sophomore centerfielder Will Hodges got Carthage started with a lead off single in the fourth. Senior DH Mark Sobol singled, and the runners advanced to second and third on a balk. Freshman second baseman Tyler Eickmeyer brought Sobol home with a single to up the Carthage lead to 3-0.
Whitewater got on the board in the sixth. With one out, junior second baseman Ben Kuhlmann (Minneapolis, MN/Southwest) and sophomore catcher Rob Coe (Appleton/North) singled. Senior rightfielder Kevin Zalnis (Woodstock, IL/Woodstock) advanced the runners with a ground out, and Kuhlmann came home on a balk.
With two outs in the sixth Whately doubled for Carthage and senior leftfielder Chris Shannon hit his first home run of the season to make it 5-1.
One out back-to-back singles by freshman leftfielder Matt Beyer (Janesville/Parker) and junior third baseman Nick Rechlitz (Milwaukee/Marquette) started Whitewater's seventh, but the Warhawks were thwarted, at least for one out, by a diving catch by Whatley off a ball hit by UW-W's Travis Wessels (Tomah/Tomah). A hard shot to third base by sophomore centerfielder Tony Wong (Appleton/West), scored as an error, brought in Beyer and moved Rechlitz to third. Carthage led 5-2 going in to the bottom of the seventh.
The Redmen got the run back in their half of the inning on a lead off home run by senior catcher Mike Hughes, his ninth of the season.
Zalnis singled with one out in the eighth for the Warhawks. Senior first baseman Matt Millar (Stoughton/Stoughton) singled and advanced to second with Zalnis scoring on an error by a Carthage outfielder.
Carthage added the final two runs in the eighth. Whately singled, Shannon singled, and Hughes doubled in both with a two-out double. That hit raised Hughes' RBI total for the season to 55.
Freshman lefthander Williams Lovera (Tinaquillo, Venezuela/Tinaquillo), making just his third start of the season, went the first seven innings for UW-W, giving up four earned runs with two walks and four strikeouts. Freshman righthander Eric Schmitz (Fond du Lac/Fond du Lac) closed out the game for the Warhawks. Wong went 2x5 at the plate for Whitewater.
Junior righty Jordan Jaehne-Llanas tossed his second complete game of the season in raising his record to 8-2 for Carthage. Jaehne-Llanas struck out ten, giving him 66 in 68 innings this season. Whately and Hughes had three hits apiece for the Redmen, with Hughes adding three runs batted in. Two of Whately's hits were doubles.
UW-Whitewater set up the decisive game Monday afternoon with a 4-2 win over Carthage Monday morning. In the tourney's double elimination format, that set up the finale.
Whitewater, the number three seed in the regional, opened tourney play with a 3-2 win over Washington University Thursday. The Warhawks lost to Millsaps College 12-4 Saturday, but came back with two wins Sunday; 8-3 over Wartburg College and 10-4 over Millsaps to set up Monday's finals.
Junior pitcher Aaron Dott (Green Lake/Green Lake), Wessels, and Rechlitz were named to the twelve player all-regional tournament team.
UW-W ends the season 30-19, with their sixth Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title in seven years (and eighth in ten seasons), and the school's fourteenth NCAA III championship berth.
For additional information: John Vodenlich, UW-W coach
